"Hooooooo…"
The horn-blower puffed his cheeks and unleashed a tense, spine-chilling blast.
Resting warriors, still unarmored, leapt to their feet in panic, hurriedly throwing on gear and rushing to the deck. Under the barked orders of their commanders, they quickly formed neat, disciplined ranks.
All except the Dothraki, of course. Disciplined ranks meant nothing to them. They answered only to Khal Drogo, and they lived to kill, not march in lines.
The order spread from ship to ship like wildfire. When word arrived that their mighty khal had mobilized the entire fleet for a single singer, confusion rippled through the ranks.
Still, a king's command was not to be questioned. And since this wasn't a suicide mission, most treated it as a welcome distraction from the long voyage.
No one found it more ridiculous than Daenerys herself. But rather than sobbing or raging, she simply tightened her delicate jaw and watched in silence.
The Mother of Dragons didn't see a songstress—no matter how talented—as any threat to her place in Drogo's heart. She assumed her husband was simply bored and wanted a bit of music to lighten his mood.
Whatever others thought was of no concern to Drogo.
What alarmed him now was that, the moment the horn's echo faded, so did Haixi's song.
It made sense, though. Anyone would fall silent if they suddenly saw an entire war fleet closing in on them.
"Quick! Surround Coral Isle! As soon as we make landfall, lower the boarding ladders!"
Had she been swallowed by the sea monster, only to get stuck in its throat, somehow avoid its acidic stomach juices, and then be vomited up into this sea by chance? Or had she climbed aboard one of the warships in secret, hiding until they neared Coral Isle, and then slipped back into the water?
But that made no sense.
The ships were massive. She wasn't some octopus with suctioned arms—how could she have climbed aboard unnoticed, with sentries posted every few paces?
Drogo couldn't make sense of it. No theory held up. That Haixi was still alive at all was miracle enough. If he wanted answers, he'd have to ask her himself.
The Dracarys Stallion—the ship bearing his royal banner and powered by over five hundred oars—reached the isle in five minutes. Spotting a stable reef, sailors lowered the boarding ladders.
Drogo led the charge down, rushing toward the location he'd estimated earlier. But even after searching every possible hiding spot, they found no sign of life.
Just as he prepared to expand the search, a scout made an odd discovery.
Drogo strode over and saw it: in a shallow pool, the scout had picked up a shimmering, multicolored scale.
He took it and rolled it between his fingers. It was soft to the touch, yet incredibly resilient.
"What kind of fish did this come from?" Drogo asked, intrigued.
The scout shook his head—he didn't know. No one did. None had ever seen a fish bearing such iridescent scales.
Drogo, ever curious, set the scale on a stone and brought down his Valyrian arakh—sharp enough to cut iron like silk.
Sparks flew.
To his shock, the blade left only the faintest of marks—so slight it was barely visible.
Small though it was, the scale had immense value. Drogo carefully tucked it into his pouch before resuming the search.
To him, Coral Isle was the only piece of land in this stretch of sea. No matter how good Haixi was in the water, she couldn't have gone far.
Unless she was a fool—someone who cared nothing for her own life.
But Drogo didn't think she was a fool. That time she'd tasted his rum—filtered with seawater—she'd immediately called it salty. If she were brainless, would she have even noticed?
He didn't underestimate her. After all, she had vanished from a part of the sea so dangerous that even the best sailors had gone missing. And yet she'd survived and made it here, even faster than a seabird. Maybe she'd had some kind of breathing apparatus while underwater?
But no—this wasn't the world of his past life. No such thing existed here.
Still, he searched, mind racing.
A thousand ships lit their signal fires, illuminating the reef-ringed isle as bright as midday. The crews combed through every rock and crevice.
In the end, they found nothing. Just an empty, dormant volcano.
Drogo was frustrated. "Was it all in our heads? That song—so many of us heard it clearly!"
Back aboard the ship, he pulled out the scale again, hoping someone could identify it. Finally, one man spoke up: Captain Collensa, a pirate lord from the Tourmaline Brotherhood.
He hesitated but offered a guess.
"Only mermaids," he said, "are said to have such dazzling rainbow-colored scales."
Drogo had heard of mermaids—both in his current life and the last.
They were said to have the upper body of a beautiful woman, and the lower body of a shimmering, scaled tail. Graceful, seductive, and swift beyond imagining.
They were amphibious, capable of breathing air like humans and swimming like sea beasts. Their voices, like their appearances, were legendarily enchanting—powerful enough to sway minds.
The more he thought about it, the more chilled Drogo became.
Haixi's body had been half-submerged. Her voice… that song... it had that same unearthly pull. It wasn't just beautiful—it was bewitching.
And then he remembered her words:
"I am the daughter of the sea."
Khal Drogo's lieutenant asked, "Captain, are mermaids said to have blue hair and blue eyes?"
Collensa nodded slightly. "Yes, Your Grace. That's what the tales say."
Drogo staggered. His knees almost gave out.
Blue hair. Blue eyes.
Haixi was a mermaid.
If that were true, then her survival made perfect sense.
"Mermaids are said to be as heartless as the sea itself," someone muttered. "The sailors who died… it must've been her doing!"
As Drogo pondered this grim revelation, Daenerys suddenly broke her silence.
"When you sent men to search the water… was it for her? Were you enchanted by that mermaid?"
"A mermaid's only half-human," Drogo shot back. "I am a man. A real one. How could I be bewitched?"
But he sounded unsure, his voice faltering.
That was all it took.
Tears welled in Daenerys's eyes. For the first time in what felt like forever, she broke down.
With clenched fists, she struck at his chest, sobbing: "You've changed, Drogo. You're not the fierce khal I once knew!"
There's no good time to cry when a man's in a foul mood.
Drogo grabbed her wrists, his voice cold and sharp:
"I'm still the same Drogo. I was then, I am now. Any change you see—it's because of you."
With that, he shoved her aside and stormed off into the cabin.
Daenerys collapsed to the deck.
Trembling, she whispered to herself, "He could've spent his life galloping across the Dothraki Sea… but for me, he gave it all up—his fury, his freedom—bathing in blood to help me reclaim my throne. And now he's become someone no one recognizes… maybe even himself."
She knew she'd gone too far.
She longed for him to lift her up again, to wrap her in his arms like always. If he did, she'd forgive him.
But not this time.
Her "sun and stars" left her in the dark.
Missandei, though quietly pleased, dared not show it. She stood at her queen's side, unmoving, waiting for orders.
Hssss…
The black dragon swooped down from the mast, wings folding as it landed beside Daenerys. Gently, it nudged its mother's face with its snout.
Perhaps her sorrow touched the gods, for the starry sky darkened with clouds.
Soon, lightning lit up the heavens.
Then came the wind.
The waves surged higher and higher—an omen of an approaching storm.
Commanders, led by Grey Worm, barked orders to drop anchors and lash the ships to nearby reefs with thick ropes.
The scorching weather had already given rise to strange steam clouds during their voyage. They had long suspected a great storm was brewing.
Many felt grateful they'd found safe anchorage.
But just as relief began to set in, Coral Isle began to quake violently.
A thick plume of smoke billowed from its central crater.
A volcano—ready to erupt.
If it did, the fleet stood no chance against the raining fire and stone.
The chaos outside grew too loud. Fuming in the cabin was no longer an option.
Drogo burst onto the deck, shouting for the anchors to be raised and the ropes to be cut.
"Set sail—NOW!"
BOOM!
Thunder cracked across the sky. Torrents of rain lashed down, unleashing tidal waves that battered the fleet. Whitecaps crashed over the decks, drenching every man and woman on board.
Then—
BOOM!
The volcano erupted.
Scarlet lava and boulders blasted into the air, falling in all directions.
It was like the end of the world.
But it didn't stop there.
From the depths of the ocean, lightning surged upward—something no one had ever seen before—meeting the bolts in the sky and forming a blinding, all-encompassing net of death.
Faced with a catastrophe beyond imagination, the crew felt only despair.
And among the terrified Dothraki came the cry:
"The mermaid's rainbow scale is cursed! She brought this misfortune upon us!"
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🐉 Dragon King of Ice and Fire
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